Media/Blogs

Use the Timeline page to follow the story from the Iran-Contra Ollie North 1980’s through to today. The Timeline is more accurate than the Media (e.g. the Boland Amendment was passed in 1982 not 1985). Below are sometimes repetitive; we have excluded partial and off-the-wall accounts.

Updated 6 December 2012

Recurring Authors

Eric Lichtblau

Lichtblau, Eric. Los Angeles Times. Now with the New York Time, at the time with the Los Angeles Times after years of work as an investigative reporter covering the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Earned a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for national reporting. He was the primary mainstream media reporter on the Sabow story and evidently it was decided early on by his editors that he was not to apply his considerable investigative reporting skills to this specific case.

Marosi, Richard. Los Angeles Times

O’Dowd, Robert. Veteran’s Today, Salem-News.com

Schou, Nick. Orange County Weekly.

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Revelations of illegal activities in support of the U.S.-backed Contras continue to crop up in local communities around the South. The revelations contribute to the case that the Christic Institute, a Washington-based public interest law firm and policy center, has mounted in a Miami federal court against members of the criminal conspiracy it believes was behind the La Penca bombing, behind an extensive guns-for-drugs campaign, and behind the rest of the untold story surrounding the Iran-Contra affair. * In Miami in 1986, convicted drug pilot Michael Tolliver landed a plane carrying 25,000 pounds of marijuana at the Homestead U.S. Air Force Base. Tolliver has testified before Congress that his action was part of a massive guns-for-drugs operation to resupply the U.S.-backed Contras. * In Mena, Ark., local law enforcement officials are trying to shed light on a drug smuggling and Contra supply airstrip which they were told not to investigate because it was an official covert operation of the CIA.

A high-ranking officer at the Marine Corps Air Station here, suspended last week amid allegations of taking out a base plane for personal use, shot and killed himself Tuesday morning, officials and sources said. The body of Col. James E. Sabow, 51, assistant chief of staff in charge of air operations, was found by his wife on the patio of his base home around 10 a.m., according to military sources. No note was found, sources said.

A high-ranking officer at the Marine Corps Air Station, suspended last week amid allegations of taking out a base plane for personal use, shot and killed himself Tuesday morning, officials said. The body of Col. James E. Sabow, 51, an assistant chief of staff in charge of air operations, was found by his wife on the patio of his El Toro base home about 10 a.m., according to military sources. No note was found, the sources added. “He apparently took his own life,” said Capt.

Col. James E. Sabow spent 28 years building an impeccable service record in the Marine Corps–a long journey toward the coveted stars of a general that is not for the weak, the impatient, the immoral or the corrupt. Those joining the small fraternity of colonels wearing the silver bird with its spread wings live with the reality that the smallest mistake or indiscretion could derail all the years of hard work and good intentions.

A senior officer at the Marine Corps Air Station here, targeted in a probe that may have prompted the suicide of his best friend, defended himself Wednesday against allegations of official misconduct and called the investigation involving the two men “a nightmare.” In an emotional telephone interview, Col. Joseph E. Underwood said he “would love to give my side of the story” but was prevented from discussing the specifics of the investigation because of military protocol.

A senior officer at the Marine Corps Air Station here, targeted in a probe that might have prompted the suicide of his best friend, defended himself Wednesday against allegations of official misconduct and called the incident involving the two men “a nightmare.” In an emotional telephone interview, Col. Joseph E. Underwood said he “would love to give my side of the story” but was prevented from discussing specifics of the case because of an ongoing military investigation.

INSIGHT: Once the deal was cut, the equivalent of “sealed records” kicked in and all concerned were advised they would lose both their clearances and their pension if they talked about — similar to what kept US Navy victims silent for over 25 years after the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty.

An investigation into two colonels at the Marine air base here has focused almost exclusively on their questionable use of military aircraft, officials said Thursday, prompting surprise among some service personnel that this would be enough to drive one of the officers to suicide. Military sources stressed, however, that the number of flights taken by Marine Cols. Joseph E. Underwood and the late James E.

INSIGHT: This is where staff reporter Eric Lichtblau–who is an investigative reporter with years of covering “Justice,” goes deaf, dumb, and blind — and his editors go along.

In a meeting Friday with Marine Corps families whose loved ones are stationed in the Persian Gulf, U.S. Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.) said he was encouraged by their spirit and discussed concerns ranging from child-care problems to skyrocketing telephone bills amassed in long-distance calls to Saudi Arabia.

Col. Joseph E. Underwood, former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station chief of staff, has pleaded guilty to charges that include misusing base planes and other military property and coercing a kickback from a subordinate, a spokeswoman said Saturday. The admission by the 29-year Marine veteran occurred Friday, ending a month long investigation during which a fellow officer and close friend implicated in the case committed suicide.

Col. Joseph E. Underwood, former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station chief of staff, has pleaded guilty to charges that include misusing base planes and other military property and coercing a kickback from a subordinate, a spokeswoman said Saturday. The admission by the 29-year Marine veteran occurred Friday, ending a monthlong investigation during which a fellow officer and close friend implicated in the case committed suicide.

A retirement date of April 1 has been set for Col. Joseph E. Underwood, the former chief of staff at the Marine Corps Air Station here until he was relieved of duty in January for alleged misuse of military planes and other improprieties, base officials said Thursday. The retirement marks the final chapter in Underwood’s fall.

The watchdog arm of the Marine Corps said Friday that it will review the use of military aircraft by the commander of the Marine Western air bases to determine whether a full-scale investigation is warranted, and officials on Capitol Hill said they, in turn, will keep close watch on that review.

The Marine Corps inspector general launched a formal investigation Monday into whether the commander of the Marines’ western air bases has misused military aircraft for personal trips to Big Bear, Florida and elsewhere around the country. Col. Jim Williams, the Marine Corps’ deputy inspector general in Washington, D.C., said that after reviewing a report in the Los Angeles Times on Friday, his office decided to open a full investigation of Brig. Gen. Wayne T.

For the second time this year, the Marine Corps inspector general from Washington interviewed officials at the western air base headquarters here this week to investigate the possibility of wrongdoing by a top officer. The target of the inquiry this time is Brig. Gen. Wayne T. Adams, the commander of the Marine Corps’ western air bases, who took at least five flights that military officials say raise questions about his mixing personal and business travel.

In an extraordinary step, Brig. Gen. Wayne T. Adams has permanently banished from local Marine bases the man he fired as his chief of staff, refusing him access to the officers’ club, the golf course and other facilities usually open to retired personnel. Col. Joseph E. Underwood, 51, was fired from his post earlier this year and later retired amid allegations that included using base planes for golfing jaunts.

The Marine Corps on Wednesday removed the commanding general of the western air bases from his post here and reassigned him to Virginia amid an investigation into his use of base planes for personal trips. “This action was deemed necessary to ensure a fair and thorough investigation and to preserve the efficient and orderly functioning of the commands,” Marine Corps Headquarters said in a prepared statement. The decision to remove Brig. Gen. Wayne T.

The Marine Corps on Wednesday removed the commanding general of the Western air bases from his post here and reassigned him to Virginia amid an investigation into the general’s use of base planes for personal purposes. “This action was deemed necessary to ensure a fair and thorough investigation and to preserve the efficient and orderly functioning of the commands,” officials from Marines Corps headquarters said in a prepared statement. The decision to remove Brig. Gen. Wayne T.

As a lanky teen-ager in South Florida growing up within earshot of Homestead Air Force Base, Tommy Adams used to bag groceries after school to pay for private flying lessons. He’d tell his high school sweetheart endlessly about how he, too, would someday sit in the cockpit of the F-8 Crusaders that swept majestically through the local skies.

The new commander of the Marine Corps’ western air bases, seeking to put to rest the scandal of the past four months, said Tuesday that Marine aviators do adhere to restrictions on the personal use of aircraft but need to be “more sensitive to perceptions” of wrongdoing. “Marine Corps policy is adequate the way it stands. I think the base directives are adequate,” said Brig. Gen. Harold W. Blot. But “people have to be more sensitive to perception–it’s not that anyone did anything wrong.”

Brig. Gen. Wayne T. Adams, removed from his post here amid a Marine Corps investigation into his use of base planes, said Wednesday that he does not plan to retire but may take some time off before reporting for his new duties in Virginia. “There is no thought of that,” Adams said when asked about retirement in a brief interview, his first since relinquishing the Marines’ western air command last week

Carl Mundy knew he wanted to be a Marine the day he saw the movie “Wake Island” starring William Bendix, a World War II film about the struggle of a group of Marines trying to hold an American base on a small Pacific Island. Young Carl was taken by the uniforms, the helmets and the weapons. Last month, Lt. Gen. Carl E. Mundy Jr. was given the highest honor of his 34-year career when President Bush named him as Marine Corps commandant, replacing Gen. Alfred M. Gray, whose term ends July 1.

Brig. Gen. P. Drax Williams, the new commander of Marine Corps air stations in the West, says there may be no immediate or long-term solution to the noise problems created by fighter jets and helicopters from El Toro and other bases.

INSIGHT: BGen Drax came directly from being legislative assistant to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and Public Affairs Officer for the US Marine Corps. He would have been one of the key advisors to General Al Gray and others striving to cover up the murder of Col Sabow.

In a rare rebuke of a high-ranking officer, the former commander of the Marine Corps’ western air bases will be given a formal letter of reprimand and cited for improperly using an El Toro base plane and other abuses, a military commander ruled Friday. The reprimand, the first given to a Marine general in at least a dozen years, was issued Friday against Brig. Gen. Wayne T. Adams, the former El Toro-based commander who was reassigned to Quantico, Va.

A Marine general who reprimanded the ex-commander of the Marine Corps’ western air bases last week rejected the conclusions of a scathing report by military investigators who found his conduct “a dereliction of duty.” A Marine Corps Inspector General’s report, obtained by The Times, said that Brig. Gen. Wayne T.

The former commander of the Marine Corps’ western air bases flew a fighter jet repeatedly while on heart medication, accepted expensive champagne glasses from a business associate and spent $7,000 in government funds to decorate his base quarters, documents obtained by The Times show. The report, compiled by the Marine Corps inspector general’s office in an investigation of Brig. Gen. Wayne T.

Back when J.K. Davis was starting out as a Marine Corps pilot at El Toro in the 1950s, the real fun began once the scheduled mission was over and the log books were out of sight. “The fliers, they’d meet over at Lake Elsinore after their missions and have dogfights,” he recalls. “Anybody that was there would have at it–sort of an unprogrammed, air-to-air combat . . . in the old F-4U Corsairs.” Davis, 64, now a retired four-star general living in San Clemente, pauses, remembering those days.

The commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps has upheld a career-threatening reprimand issued six weeks ago to the former chief of the Marines’ Western air bases over his misuse of military aircraft, officials announced Monday. The rejection of Brig. Gen. Wayne T. Adams’ appeal means that a letter of reprimand will become a permanent part of the former El Toro commander’s military record. Such a reprimand is virtually unprecedented against a general officer in the corps, military officials say.

Ten months ago, David Sabow stood tearfully in the Marine chapel here, a beaten man bent over his older brother’s flag-draped coffin. To all who would listen, he vowed: “Justice will come.” To David Sabow and other relatives, these were not idle words uttered in grief and soon forgotten. Instead, the vindication of James E.

Ten months ago, David Sabow stood tearfully in the Marine chapel here, a beaten man bent over his older brother’s flag-draped coffin. To all who would listen, he vowed: “Justice will come.” To David Sabow and other relatives, these were not idle words, uttered in grief and soon forgotten. Instead, the vindication of Col. James E. Sabow has become a life’s crusade for the family of the 51-year-old colonel at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station who apparently killed himself with a .

Eleven months after a Marine Corps colonel died of a shotgun blast, the military has surprised its critics by reopening the investigation into what they had ruled a suicide, officials disclosed Friday. The military apparently decided to reverse its position on what it considered a closed case because of pressure from the family of James E. Sabow, which maintains that the former assistant chief of staff at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station may have been murdered.

For the second time, the military has ruled that the shotgun blast that killed an El Toro Marine colonel last year in the midst of a scandal was self-inflicted, according to a report obtained Wednesday. Two months ago, the family of the late Col. James E. Sabow persuaded the military to reopen its investigation into his death because of what survivors called new evidence suggesting that he may have been murdered.

The family of a Marine Corps colonel whose death last year caused a scandal at the base here is filing a claim against the military, alleging that officials conspired to conceal information about the case. Marine Corps officials concluded that Col. James E. Sabow, 51, killed himself with a .12-gauge, double-barreled shotgun on Jan. 22, 1991, because he was upset over his suspension for allegedly using U.S. aircraft for personal trips.

The family of a Marine Corps colonel whose death last year caused a scandal at the El Toro air base is filing a claim against the military, alleging that officials conspired to conceal information about the case. Marine Corps officials concluded that Col. James E. Sabow, 51, killed himself with a .12-gauge, double-barreled shotgun on Jan. 22, 1991, because he was upset over his suspension for allegedly using U.S. planes for personal trips.

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The family of a top Marine who died in a now-disputed suicide is charging that the military botched its investigation into the colonel’s 1991 death and may have doctored photographs of the scene. Col. James E. Sabow’s survivors filed a $60-million claim against the military last November, nearly two years after Sabow’s death touched off a scandal over the use of government airplanes that led to the dismissal of the commanding general at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

The family of a top Marine who died in a now-disputed suicide is charging that the military botched its investigation into the colonel’s 1991 death and may have doctored photographs of the scene. Col. James E. Sabow’s survivors filed a $60-million claim against the military last November, nearly two years after Sabow’s death touched off a scandal over the use of government airplanes that led to the dismissal of the commanding general at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

For the third time, the military has opened an investigation into the apparent suicide of a top officer here in 1991, and investigators took sworn statements this week in Arizona from two people who contend the colonel was murdered. The Marine Corps has long sought to put to rest the death of Col. James E. Sabow, 51, an assistant chief of staff at the base who was found shot to death in his back yard just days after he was suspended for allegedly taking improper flights on base planes.

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A federal appeals court Wednesday handed a partial legal victory to a family fighting to prove that a former base commander at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station covered up evidence that a decorated Marine colonel was murdered in 1991. In a decision that criticized the military’s investigation as “unprofessional,” the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 to reinstate a portion of a lawsuit filed by the family of Col. James E. Sabow.

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It’s a decade-old mystery that didn’t rest even after the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station closed its gates last year. The body of a high-ranking colonel is found by his wife shot in the head at their home, just a week into the Persian Gulf War in 1991. After two investigations, the military ruled Col. James E. Sabow’s death a suicide. But his family was never convinced. They say the Marines did sloppy investigation and that Sabow was probably murdered.

The widow of a high-ranking colonel who the military said killed himself in 1991 testified Wednesday that she believes her husband’s death was not a suicide and that top U.S. Marine Corps brass refused to answer questions about the death investigation. Appearing in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Sara Sabow, 55, said she was emotionally devastated by the way the military handled the death of her husband, James E. Sabow.

A federal judge on Wednesday threw out a $10-million civil lawsuit filed by the family of a U.S. Marine Corps colonel who died in 1991, ruling that the family had not proved that military brass used intimidation tactics to quash their inquiries into the death investigation. U.S. District Judge Alicemarie H.

A federal judge on Wednesday threw out a $10-million civil lawsuit filed by the family of a U.S. Marine Corps colonel who died in 1991, ruling that the family had not proved that military brass used intimidation tactics to quash their inquiries into the death investigation. U.S. District Judge Alicemarie H.

In his court brief, Sheehan listed Mr. X’s assertions as Nos. 113-116 of 155 “factual contentions.” According to that brief, Mr. X saw “three civilian-dressed employees of the defendant United States” enter Sabow’s back yard. The trio “then altered the Sabow death crime scene” by “removing a blood-spattered wooden club” that lay in the grass. Sheehan alleged two of the three “then exited the back yard of the Sabow home through the front gate.” The third man “exited the Sabow back yard with the blood-spattered wooden club, through the back yard of chief of staff Underwood.”

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MilitaryCorruption.com has learned two men have come forward to say they believe the highly-decorated USMC pilot was killed. One, a former CIA contract pilot, who admits he once ran guns and drugs into the now shutdown installation; the other, a former chief of the Orange County District Attorney’s Homicide Squad. The pilot, William “Tosh” Plumlee, says “Sabow was murdered,” while top cop Mike Jacobs calls the military investigation a “whitewash” and flat-out declared “someone killed Sabow and staged the crime to look like a suicide.”

Dr. David Sabow stared vacantly at the Arizona desert unfolding through the windshield, unable to take his mind off the small wooden box on the car’s back seat. Inside the box were the shattered remains of his brother’s skull. Sabow and a forensic anthropologist were heading to a medical laboratory in Tucson, where the fragments would be glued back together and digitally analyzed.

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19 years ago today, a Marine Corps Colonel was murdered at MCAS El Toro, California. His brother has relentlessly pursued the investigation of his death for all of these years. Guns, drugs, and a government cover-up make this a perfect crime.

Former attorney supervisor in Orange County District Attorney’s office said the Marine officer was injured by a blow to the head and while unconscious suffered a shotgun blast in the mouth. U.S. Justice Department passed responsibility to California. Jerry Brown, California’s Attorney General, needs to pursue investigation.

Signs are now emerging that alleged Pentagon subway shooter John Patrick Bedell harbored strong hatred toward the US government and the armed forces, and questioned the circumstances behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Pentagon shooter John Patrick Bedell was drawn to the 1991 case of Marine Corps Col. James Sabow. Investigators said the officer committed suicide, but others – including his brother – are sure he was murdered.

Marine Col. James Sabow was found dead in 1991. Official investigations ruled his death a suicide, but members of his family disagree. The case has come up again because it appears that the gunman in the Pentagon shooting may have commented on the case online.

Former attorney supervisor in Orange County District Attorney’s office said the Marine officer was injured by a blow to the head, and while unconscious suffered a shotgun blast in the mouth. U.S. Justice Department passed responsibility to California. Jerry Brown, California’s Attorney General, needs to pursue investigation.